[PATV] Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 2, Ep. 8: Tutorials 101

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[PATV] Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 2, Ep. 8: Tutorials 101

This week, as promised, we take a closer look at how to build a good tutorial.

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ASpotySpot

I agree with everything said. One thing that annoys me though is games where the tutorial gets dragged on too much through the game that it feels like new gameplay elements are being added because the old ones have nothing left interesting in them. Portal 2 felt like this a bit for me for example.

kingceth

Doesn't GTA constantly take criticism for being one long tutorial?
Portal was the same though, but doesn't receive this kind of flak. I can't see why one happens.

lordhoban

I agree with most of this, with certain exceptions. I absolutely hated the first level of Deus Ex: Human Revolutions, because it just felt like any other fps game, and that's not what I signed on for. A tutorial should reflect the kind of experience a player will have, and so streamlining an rpg interface to the point where it feels like a different game than what it should be (with no indication whatsoever that it will be any different at any point, including a lack of a game manual).

So streamlining until needed is good for certain games, but be sure you don't rob the player of the very game experience you are planning on giving that player in the process of streamlining.

If that first level of Deus Ex: HR had been a demo level, I would not have bought the game. (I'd much rather it had been a cinematic. Course, what a shame that the first and last levels of this game are so bad, the first impression and the last, but that's another issue.)

TechDeskGamer

Again, referencing Sequelitis, many of the same points are made there, and I love it. As for a game that teaches you throughout, yes Portal is a fantastic example. However, if you want to look at old school gaming, I think Egoraptor hit the nail on the head when mentioning the MegaMan series. This was a series that always had a basic level of challenge varied a little, but not excessively so. Yes, some where harder than other, I'm looking at you MM9, and some were easier *cough cough Mega Man 6 cough cough* but they still had a BASELINE of difficulty that most of the NES era Blue Bomber games adhered to. One of the reasons this is the case is because the Mega Man series is always teaching you. First they teach you in a safe way that making a mistake will hinder your progress but wont necessarily result in death and a loss of progress. After this safe teaching though, the devs started adding other elements that you may have come across in other parts of the game and combined them to make to make it more dangerous to make the same mistakes you learned to avoid earlier. As you progress through any given NES Mega Man game, these combinations become more complex as different elements that you learned about are thrown together in new ways that create, well not an entirely linear progression of difficulty, it is still a natural one. As these new combinations of elements are combined, the player is still challenged, but it does not feel impossible but rather challenging because the player has dealt with these elements before. However, just because the player has dealt with these elements before, does not mean that more learning is not required because now the have to learn to deal with the same element in a different situation. I firmly believe that NES Mega Man series, and yes there is a reason I keep referring to the NES ones, continue to teach you from the minute you pick up the game all the way to the final level. As always, a nice job and just wanted to add my two cents.